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From the writers of the stuff you watch

WritingCards.com features filmmaking advice from some of the best writers of TV, fIlm, streaming and animation. Click on their social media icons to follow.

The question we have been asking lately is "What is the advice you have been giving to yourself lately?"

WritingCards from the Screenwriters Nominated for the 2018 Academy Awards for Best Screenplay

Jordan Peele

"Never lose sight of why you started this script."

Get Out | Keanu | Key Peele

Greta Gerwig

"Don't afraid to be bored. On the other side of boredom is magic."

Frances Ha | Mistress America | Lady Bird

Steven Rogers

"Be kind to yourself."

I Tonya | Love the Coopers | P.S. I Love You

Scott Neustadter

"Don't think yourself our of it!!!"

The Disaster Artist | 500 Days of Summer | The Spectacular Now

Michael Weber

"Write everyday."

The Disaster Artist | 500 Days of Summer | The Spectacular Now

Emily Gordon

"Remember the headline of the story you want to tell. When you get bogged down in details + hate the world, it'll save you."

The Big Sick | Crashing | The Carmichael Show

Kumail Nanjiani

"Just write. Doesn't have to be good. Take the pressure off yourself."

The Big Sick | Life as We Know It | Central Intelligence

Virgil Williams

"Calm the fuck down and write."

Mudbound | Criminal Minds | The Chicago Code

David Branson Smith

"Challange yourself to take on risks with your story, explore characters you want to know more about, create worlds that reflect every corner of your imagination, but always remember that as a craftsman you can only be great at one thing. Do that thing better than anyone else."

Ingrid Goes West | Enlightened | Field Trip

Top Tweeted Cards

Max Landis

"Stop looking at this notecard,
Write five sentences,
then look again."

Chronicle | Victor Frankenstein | American Ultra

Scott Myers

"Start with character, End with character, Find the story in between"

K-9 | Alaska | Trojan War

Michael Arndt

"Never condescend (emotional) to your hero."

The Force Awakens | Toy Story 3 | Inside Out

Joe Weisberg

"When your're having problems, its always the same old reasons or something basic w/ your characters and story. Review the stuff you've known forever."

The Americans | Damages | Falling Skies

Matt Selman

"Know where you are going - do not wavier from the path to the end that says what you want to say."

Cgbarum?

S or J or ...fl?

Luke Kat???

""Write what you want to see. Never cater to friends or follow.""

wish I wrote who this is down.

Screenwriter

"Quote"

Credits

Can't believe I forgot to write down their names on the back of the card like the others.I just figured I could read their signatures. I am sure that the following have written cards: So they could be some of the mystery cards people, but I don't see it...
Aaron Covington, writer of Creed, Meg Le Fauve, writer of Pixar's Inside Out, Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, writers of Spotlight.
The Scriptnotes guys, Craig and John have cards that I can't seem to find too.Will add to the list as I remember.

Goyer said the sequence in Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne travels to Bhutan was inspired by his own experience traveling in his 20s. As he wrote " Man of Steel" he admitted, "I already had a hard time identifying with Superman"—until he became both a father for the first time and a stepfather over the course of the year he spent writing the screenplay. "I thought, 'holy shit,'" he recalled. "It's about a guy who's got a stepdad and a dad, and that completely unlocked it for me." (Film Indie Panel)

"I think people who aspire to be writers can be looking for the perfect, ideal condition. I've learned to have no preciousness about the process. I can write for 15 minutes in an airport lounge, I can write on a plane, I can write at the coffee shop for 20 minutes. One of the keys is doing little increments of work all the time as opposed to thinking you need to have some big chunk of time to do something creative. Those little pods of time really add up to a meaningful amount of creative work." (USA Today)

Meg said a character should evolve in every scene, but should also be active in every scene—which she identifies as the problem she sees the most with first-time screenwriters. "The main character [is] not actually creating the movie; all the characters around them are creating the movie, and they're reacting and responding to it," she said. "I think that's actually very natural because in your mind, you're not actually creating your life. You're just responding to your life. It's not true, but that's what you believe." (Film Indie)

"The first reason to read bad scripts is to constantly expose yourself to what doesn't work. Don't learn from your own mistakes, learn from others. That's my motto. That way yours are much more manageable because they're fewer. You become hyper-aware of flat characters, shotty dialogue, predictability, clichés, etc." (quoted by John August)

"The problem with novels is that you can spend a whole year writing one and it might not turn out well because you haven't learned to write yet. But the best hygiene for beginning writers or intermediate writers is to write a hell of a lot of short stories. If you can write one short story a week—it doesn't matter what the quality is to start—but at least you're practicing and at the end of the year you have 52 short stories and I defy you to write 52 bad ones. It can't be done." (Link)

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About

The first time I met a famous screenwriter, I didn't want a photo with him, I needed his advice. That was my first card of writing advice. As more and more inspiring cards gathered on my desk, other writers requested a copy, leading to this website, with new cards posted frequently.

These WritingCards were graciously given while attending various screenwriting events: